Google I/O – The Cool Stuff: Part 1

google-io-2013A lot of cool stuff came out of Google I/O last week. Let’s take a quick look at some of them in this sweet two-part series.

Google I/O is Google’s big annual developer bash. Like Microsoft Build and Apple’s WWDC, Google I/O is designed to showcase Google’s latest goodies and achievements. The idea is to attract new developers to use the new features and functionality that will in turn attract more consumer and enterprise customers to the Google side of the mobile world.

This year, Google rolled out a number of new developments in both the desktop and mobile platform spaces. Over the next couple of days, I’m going to highlight some interesting developments from both areas and try to show you where you might find value for yourself. Today, we’re going to concentrate on the desktop.

Desktop Developments

Quick Actions in Gmail
When you get an actionable email message from someone, don’t be surprised when you can act on the item from right within Gmail. Google is rolling out Quick Action buttons that show up next to actionable items. For example, you’ll be able to RSVP for events from within the invite. Flight information will also be a featured action. Its Google’s intention to solicit their developer partners for ideas on additional buttons.

Gmail Payments
Send money via email, just like PayPal, only its Google Wallet. If you have a Google Wallet account, you can send money to anyone else with an email address. They don’t have to have Gmail, but will have to have a Wallet account.

This is nearly the EXACT same model as PayPal, which BTW, does pretty well. Like their other “me too” app Google+, which competes directly with Facebook, I expect this to have the same amount of success. People may give it a shot to see how well it does or doesn’t work, but then will either revert back to their PayPal account or simply abandon it entirely. Google’s been trying to get into the payments game for a while now with NFC and Google Wallet, It hasn’t had a lot of luck, and I don’t see Gmail Payments providing them with any kind of competitive advantage over the very well established and widely accepted PayPal.

Voice-Powered Desktop Search
This new development is meant to compete directly with Apple’s Siri. It’s been rumored that Apple would be bringing Siri to the desktop in Mountain Lion, but that update never materialized. While many Apple users are still looking for it, Google beat them to the punch with the introduction of conversational, voice powered desktop search. I would expect to see this as part of most Chromebooks as well as an extension available via Google’s Chrome browser.

Google Now Cards – Cool Reminders
This is another feature that catches up to Apple Reminders. Supporting both time and date, Google added geo-fencing to Now’s reminders. You can get a reminder to trigger in Google Now when you arrive or leave a specific geographic location.

Geo-fencing has been a bit of an issue for Apple, and the feature doesn’t work as intended. At least I’ve never been able to have it work correctly. Hopefully Google’s vast experience with Maps will help it better trigger these events and its performance will be much better than Apple Reminders’; cuz it kinda sucks…

Streaming Music Service – All Access
This is yet another area where Google beat Apple to the punch. Apple’s iRadio has been rumored to be in the works for a few years now. Unfortunately, the much anticipated and much sought after service has not materialized behind Apple’s Walled Garden of content and services.

I’m not sure how Google pulled it off, but they got to the party first with All Access. For about $10 bucks a month, you can stream “millions” of songs out of the Google Play Store or your own Google Music library. Available in the US now (and other countries in the coming months), users get a 30 day free trial with the service billed automatically after that. If you signup before 30-Jul-2013, you get the service for $8 bucks.

If you plan to use the service and don’t have a fat data plan, you better make a trip over to your cell carrier of choice and make sure you’ve got the bandwidth to support the service. Usually those people who use other streaming services like Pandora or Rdio find that once they start, they can’t stop. This is a huge win for Google as the new service works on the desktop as well as your mobile device. Hopefully, as details of the fine print come to light, we’ll find that it’s worth the cost.

Come back next time, as we’ll dive into some cool mobile developments that came out of Google I/O. It may be that the best is yet to come!

Google I/O – The Cool Stuff: Part 2

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Smaller MS Surface – What it Needs to Succeed

For MS to make a difference in the tablet market, it needs to think about how it approaches its smaller

Microsoft-Surface-RT7Adrian Kingsley-Hughes had a good article published on ZDNet the morning of 16-May-2013 speaking about how price, not size, is going to determine the success or failure of Microsoft’s rumored 7″ Surface tablet. He’s right; but I think there’s more to it than just price. There are 3 areas that MS has to address, not just 1:

PriceLet’s be clear, as Kingsley-Hughes goes into great detail in his article – Surface RT stars at $499. Surface Pro starts at $899. The iPad mini and Kindle Fire HD are similarly sized tablets that have starting prices of $329 and $199 respectively. For this tablet to be successful, the 7″ Surface needs to be priced under $300; but seriously, the lower priced the better.
Windows RT not Windows 8The 7″ Surface should be a content consumption device and NOT a small ultrabook like its larger Surface RT and Surface Pro siblings. In order to hit the lower price points I’ve outlined above, the device needs to shy away from x86 microprocessors. They’re too expensive and don’t provide enough storage or battery life.The smaller tablets are more appropriate as a content consumption device – media players, eBook readers and the like – as opposed to a very small ultrabook. In order to make sure this happens and happens well, Windows RT needs a fundamental change. It needs to be more tablet-centric as opposed to Windows-centric. Windows RT needs to lose Desktop mode and most – if not all – of its familiar desktop Windows paradigm elements. Windows RT needs to be a tablet specific OS. The sooner it does this, the better off it will be; and the better chance it has to being accepted by a Windows familiar public.
Nook or Not; and if Not, then What?There’s been some speculation that Microsoft would buy all of the Nook digital assets from B&N. There are a number of different reasons on both sides of the issue – for and against – the acquisition of the assets as well as developing a version of Windows RT that will run on the ARM-based Nook tablets.If MS does buy the Nook digital assets and doesn’t modify Windows RT to run on the Nook (which may actually be the 7″ Surface tablet we’ve heard about…), then it doesn’t make a lot of sense for them to acquire the assets, at least in my opinion. If they don’t buy Nook, then you really have to wonder what new hardware device is going to be introduced to the market. It also calls into question the price and OS version concerns I’ve outlined above.

Microsoft has a lot of hoops to jump through to make a 7″ Surface tablet work for them. Time will tell if they get it right.

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RunKeeper – Your personal fitness trainer.

runkeeper-elite-laptop-560These days, a runner has plenty of choices to track his workout, informations like the miles he ran, body fat loss, calories consumed, etc.
You can find many websites, smartphone applications and many other devices that can track your activity.

I’ve tried a few of these applications, but most of them are not worth paying attention to. But recently after a few feeds from my friends on facebook, I decided to try out the program they were using as their personal fitness coach. This is how I discovered RunKeeper. It’s a mobile fitness platform that leverages the location technology in smartphones to help runners and other fitness enthusiasts better track, measure, and improve their fitness training. Besides that, it’s fun, social, and helpful and has many fitness programs for any level.

The good thing is that we all love competition, and what’s better than competing with your friends? Runkeeper comes with a social ladder board, where you can see your results, achievements, and your rank among your friends using RunKeeper. Yes, achievements which are good way to motivate you. And besides that, you get professional fitness programs and reminders, so there’s no way you can miss any training session.

rkBut wait, you want some more? No problem. You can get a “premium” version too. It’s called RunKeeper Elite. For a monthly or yearly paid plan, you: “Get more from RunKeeper.com and the RunKeeper mobile app with the premium RunKeeper Elite subscription. Enjoy live activity broadcasting, discounted Training Plans and advanced reports to track your training.”

I advice you to use in the beginning the free RunKeeper edition, because it features enough options to do your workouts very well.

What I like the most about the Elite plan is the Broadcast activities and races live feature, and the fact that your followers can see live where are you running and your results in real time.

Happy running!

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Dell Latitude 10 ST2 Follow-Up

latitude-10-tablet-overview2I’m still actively using my Windows 8 Based Dell Tablet; but I have a couple of updates. Let’s talk Microsoft OneNote.

I work in corporate America, as a software quality professional.  I do that in the healthcare arena as well, and as such, I often find myself either on the phone in conference calls or going from meeting to meeting every day.  My work day starts between 7:00-7:30am and usually ends between 5:00-5:30pm.  I am often in demand for a couple of reasons:

  1. I’ve got over 21 years of experience in quality assurance and am an SDLC expert
  2. I’ve got over 17 years of experience as a technology journalist, and I’m often sought out by people at the office – both formally and informally – to address technology issues.

Yep. I get everything from, “Chris can you help us define the right mobile testing strategy for this project?” to, “Chris, my daughter can’t get her iPad to download this content.”

If I’m not at my desk, I’m out and about; and being a contractor, I don’t have a cubicle to myself.  I’m located in a contractor’s bullpen with 32″ of shelf space – just enough room for my desk phone, laptop, monitor, keyboard, mouse and coffee cup – to call my own.  As such, having my Dell Latitude 10 ST2 here at the office is very beneficial, and actually pretty cool.

OneNoteLogoMicrosoft OneNote is a really great note taking application. Inking aside for just a moment, its organizational features allow me to take and organize notes for any number of different project meetings. If notes are typed, or if hand written notes are run through the app’s included OCR engine, notes can be cataloged and searched quickly and easily.

From a digital inking perspective, the device just shines.  As a digital notepad, I can use the device’s TabletPC features and Wacom stylus make taking handwritten notes easy. Even without transcoding all of the digital ink into text, it’s still easy to organize and find meeting notes from a specific meeting and date thanks to OneNote’s cataloging system.

I’ve used TabletPC’s at two different companies between 2007 and 2010.  I really liked the experience and found it to be the type of computing experience that worked the best for me. I’ve been trying to replicate that with my iPad, but the technology in it just didn’t cut it, despite the type of note taking app or stylus I used. While Windows 8 isn’t my favorite OS, mostly due to ModernUI, I’ll gladly use it as long as I can keep the Latitude 10 ST2′s slim form factor and easily portability. This is likely one tool that I will continue to use for years to come, if only for this purpose. I’ve gone green when it comes to meeting notes. No more pads of paper for me…

I was recently made aware of some updates that became available for the device.  Dell is actually pretty good at improving current generation products; and the Latitude 10 ST2 recently got a BIOS update as well as driver and support program updates during mid to late April 2013. I spent a good deal of time downloading the files and planned on spending a small amount of time refreshing the BIOS and those drivers I mentioned.  I’m hopeful that the updates make a bit of a difference performance wise.

As you may recall from the review, while the tablet has 1.8Ghz Atom z2760 processor, the device doesn’t have a lot of punch.  The Atom z2760 processor may be “fast,” but it doesn’t have a lot of horse power.

One of the drivers that got updated was the tablet’s graphics driver. This is important, as the original Windows Experience Index score for the device is 3.3, with the devices Gaming Graphics determining the overall score.  There was a change after the updates were applied.

The overall Windows Experience Index Score went down from 3.3 to 3.2.

Prior to the new graphics drivers being installed, the Desktop Graphics score was 3.8 and the Gaming Graphics score was 3.3.  After the graphics driver update, both dropped to 3.2.  I’m not encouraged…

I will need to do more testing, and there may yet be another driver update. Hopefully, the combination of BIOS and driver updates will produce a smoother experience. However, I’m not holding my breath.

 

 

 

 

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A 7″ Microsoft Tablet?

It’s not a good idea.  Well, it *COULD* be, if Microsoft did it right, but they’re not going to…

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal announced that Microsoft is planning to spin up production of a 7″ Windows based, Surface branded tablet later this year.  The tablet is intended to compete with Apple’s iPad mini and the Google Nexus 7. The question one has to ask is whether this is an RT or x86 compatible device.

I think the RT model could work for a 7″ device if the price and margins were right.  Windows RT doesn’t completely suck as an OS or even as an interface. Its usable; though not very popular.  The problem is the ecosystem is extremely immature and there’s little to no native software.  Microsoft could solve part of that if it allowed Windows Phone 8 apps to run on Windows RT, but this isn’t currently the case.

7inchtablet

Intel’s Clover Trail processor can provide a decent x86 option in powering a 7″ MS Surface tablet providing power and battery life at a reasonable price point, but I don’t see Microsoft using the x86 platform and Windows 8 on a 7″ device.  We’ve proven over and over again that full blown Windows on a smaller device (phone or tablet) is not what we want (part of that was due to lack of horse power in that form factor, the other that the apps weren’t designed to run on the smaller screens). People would still try to run Photoshop, or similar desktop app, on their 7″ tablet in this scenario, and it would definitely [still] suck.

I think this is not so much a “can we” but perhaps more of a “[what] should we [do]” situation. IF MS has a plan, now would be the time to publish that, make it known, and then move towards it with expediency.  They don’t have much time left.  The PC market appears to actively be in free fall. Without a clear plan that all of their partners and customers can see and support, I don’t see Microsoft being relevant for much longer.

Believe me when I say I am NO fan of ModernUI.  Windows RT/8′s ModernUI is  the most un-Windows version of Windows in the [modern] history of Windows.  It’s a complete unWindowing of Windows; and Microsoft should not use the Windows name with RT at all. It’s a huge marketing mistake that many industry pundits will attest to.

While neither you or I may like ModernUI, Microsoft could make it work, if it did a little bit of work and enhanced the ecosystem or changed their marketing, or did almost anything to right the ship. Currently, there are no signs that any of this is happening.  As such, introducing a 7″ tablet into the mix is going to do nothing for Microsoft except create an unprofitable cost center.

I think the thing that bothers me the most about this entire situation is, again, that pundits everywhere are panning Windows RT, Windows 8 and ModernUI.  Consumers are looking at alternatives, including tablets, Linux, and Macs. PC sales, regardless of operating system, are in free fall.  Windows 7 adoption is either steady or flat; and Windows 8 adoption is far below that of Vista. For Microsoft, none of this is good.

What other information does Microsoft need before it takes appropriate action?  It kind of makes you wonder if Ballmer, or anyone at Microsoft, is paying attention, or cares.  If I were a shareholder. I’d file  a formal complaint with the SEC at this point, if for NO other reason than to get Microsoft’s attention. It may not do anything in the long run, but it WOULD get press, and would likely require some sort of formal, public response.

Microsoft needs to take these issues seriously; and though they MAY be internally, from an external perspective, they are asleep at the wheel. Unfortunately, there are a couple icebergs in their direct path.  The 7″ tablet with their current marketing plans – price points, margins, etc. – operating systems and UI’s are NOT going to provide a competitive solution and are not the right choices.

Microsoft needs to act.  Based on this news, they are just throwing good money after bad. Why would MS offer an RT tablet, simple – because it offers choice.  Windows  RT doesn’t work if its comparatively priced with the iPad.  An RT tablet needs to be priced between $149 and $199 to work. Microsoft needs to find a way to get there, or they need to get out of the tablet market. They won’t do that at $399 to $599.  They have to make it crazy cheap or it will never take off.

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Smart Watches – Cool, but Not Must Have Tech

Smartphones, smart watches… how much smart tech do we have to have?

I don’t know of any peers that don’t have a cell phone. Of those that do, I don’t know of anyone with a clamshell or candy bar phone any longer. It’s all iOS, Android or Windows Phone from what I can tell, with a smattering of Blackberry flavors here and there. Recently, Ars Technica got their hands on a Pebble Smart Watch, and this sparked a bunch of debate among my friends –

718040_smartwatch-main-image-620x440_png1f810524ca2611548a74032a9611b061

 

  • Is this the next big thing?
  • Do I need one of these?
  • Why do I need one of these?
  • Where’s the value for something that costs almost $200 after tax?

These are all good questions. Here’s my take on the whole smart watch deal.

Checking the time on your phone is much like using a pocket watch. the same actions and paradigms apply in that regard.

The big deal with smart watches is the notifications your smartphone receives. A smart watch sitting on your wrist is going to vibrate or notify you of the incoming event. It’s not as easy to miss as the buzzing of your silenced phone might be. However, the thing I have to ask myself is where is the MUST have functionality. There’s a reason why smartphones are everywhere – they provide an essential piece in the new, always on, “I’m [tweeting] from the toilet in the new edition of my house,” totally 150% accessible, communications paradigm.

It used to be that if the person you were calling wasn’t home, the phone rang 10 times, you hung up, and you called back later. Then answering machines took over and my mother-in-law could fill up an entire 30 minute tape with messages. Then paging, two-way paging, email, text messages, occasional phone calls and then the “checking in from the potty in the new edition…” thing. Awesome.

the difference between the smartphone and the smart watch is that the phone provides the critical yet portable communications hub that most everyone has or feels they need. The smart watch may enhance that experience, but it doesn’t do much more than that; and I’m not certain that its design will support much more than JUST that.

getting your notifications may be important, especially if you’re talking about mission critical, work related emails, but you have to ask yourself, “do I REALLY need to know [someone's] exact location every time they do their business (what EVER that may be)?” do I have to get every text message, every email; or is it ok if I miss a few and pick them up later?

there’s something here… However, I’m not entirely certain what it is yet. But I’m not convinced that insuring that notifications are received/viewed is the primary reason or need for this type of device. Telling time – even an approximation of time – its [about] “a quarter after 5pm,” I can really live without.

Anything else it might do – like the Johnny Sokko video watch thing might be cool, but it’s not a must have feature. In fact, there’s not much else that a tool like this could do, aside from function as a remote for my iPhone while it plays audio (so I don’t have to pull the phone out of my jacket or bag), but even that can be handled by headphones…

Where are the must have uses, applications (not apps/programs) that a tool like this provides? That’s what’s going to make a tool like this successful. Unfortunately, I just don’t see the gaping hole, and just don’t know if this has any real staying power.

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Windows 8 Adoption is Slower than Adoption of Windows Vista Was

If this isn’t a “V8 Moment,” I have no idea what might be…

There’s been a bunch of articles hitting the tech rags lately indicating that the current rate of Windows 8 adoption is slower than the adoption rate of Windows Vista was at about the same point in its release cycle.

Well, duh.

If that isn’t a “V8 Moment” (think of the V8 vegetable juice commercials, where people smacked there head out of “stupidity…”) I have no idea what is.

The major reasons why Windows Vista failed were:

  • The interface – Microsoft moved our cheese
  • XP adoption was still strong
  • Enterprise adoption didn’t take off

Unfortunately for Microsoft and Windows 8, the conditions the market is seeing with Windows 8 is either the same or much worse than with Windows Vista. I’m going to break it down, very quickly.

Graph Source: Net Applications via ComputerWorld

The Interface
Unfortunately for Microsoft, I think there’s more negative press with ModernUI than with the Vista version of Aero. The biggest problem with Vista was that MS changed where people had to go to get to most of the same functions they were using in Windows XP. What they were doing when they finally FOUND what they were looking for didn’t really change, though there were some updates to process, method, etc.

Unfortunately for Vista, the changes were considered so drastic that its consumer adoption tanked. People didn’t want to have to relearn what they were doing and those that were buying new PC’s decided to use Windows XP instead. Which brings us to the next point…

Previous OS Adoption
At the time that Windows Vista was introduced, Windows XP was still in very wide use. It was stable. People were comfortable and familiar with it, and most importantly, were productive at home and at work.

Enterprise Adoption
This was a foregone conclusion – enterprise adoption of Windows Vista wasn’t going to happen quickly, even under the best of conditions. IT Admins and managers don’t introduce unknowns onto their networks. They just don’t. They want tried, tested and reliable equipment, software and tools they know won’t fail or cause problems. At the time, Vista wasn’t it, and wouldn’t be for at least a year or more.

The problem with Vista’s enterprise adoption was that people weren’t willing to wait to learn where Microsoft had moved everything. Vista failed to gain any traction because it was considered too different in a sea of Windows versions that had evolved and moved users towards greater productivity.

Now let’s take a look at Windows 8. The interface is a more drastic change from Windows 7 to Windows 8 than Windows Vista was from XP, Windows 8′s touch interface also doesn’t work well with non-touch hardware.

Windows 7 is still very popular and very usable on laptops, desktops, slate styled tablets and ultrabooks. Windows 7 also hasn’t made it into the enterprise in many cases because of the upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 7. You either need to jump to Vista (and pay a license fee to do so) or wipe the PC and install from scratch. Enterprise adoption slows to a crawl there due to the amount of heavy lifting and/or large cost to upgrade from XP (where many companies still reside) to Windows 7 or even Windows 8.

So what’s the bottom line here? Please don’t be surprised that Windows 8 adoption is slow. Please also don’t be surprised when Windows 8.x (including Windows Blue) is declared a flop. I am seeing a great deal of press on all of this and no one should be surprised.

Windows RT should be the tablet OS and Windows 8 should be a desktop/laptop OS. The Live Tile interface on the desktop doesn’t work, and Microsoft is being VERY stubborn about admitting it made yet another mistake.

My biggest fear is that I’m right about all of this. My biggest fear is that Microsoft takes too long to make changes to address the way its users work and it waits itself right out of business. I’m not saying it’s GOING to happen… I’m saying I’m afraid it might if someone at Microsoft doesn’t take control of how the ship is spiraling out of control…

If I were a shareholder, I’d be demanding changes be made…quickly. If I’m wrong, I’d love for someone to present convincing evidence to the contrary. I’m willing to listen…

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How I Jailbroke my iPhone 5 for all of 27.5 Minutes

I stuck my foot outside the walled garden, and quickly pulled it back in…

cydia-appA few days ago, Apple released iOS 6.1.3 to address a discovered and published lock screen bug that allowed someone to gain access to your contacts and other private information by placing then cancelling an emergency call and then doing a whole other bunch of hokey stuff. Shortly after the fix was released, another lock screen bug was discovered that allowed users to bypass the lockcscreen, but this time with a paperclip.  Apparently, NOTHING is sacred anymore.

The iOS 6.1.3 update not only patched the one security hole, it also appears to have patched the vulnerabilities used by the Envisi0n jailbreak tool.  If you have a jailbroken iPhone running iOS 6.1.2, you’re not going to want to upgrade to iOS 6.1.3 just yet. Envisi0n can’t jailbreak iOS 6.1.3; and according to the development team, they aren’t going to fix the tool, instead wanting to prep and be ready for beta releases of iOS 7 and the iPhone 5S.

So, before I upgraded my iPhone, I decided to venture outside Apple’s walled garden of safety and took a plunge into Cydia and the world of jailbroken iOS software.

I’m glad I’m back.

I’ve been working with custom ROM’s and rooted phones for years. I got  into flashing my smartphones back in 2004-2005 when Windows Mobile was still Windows Mobile and not Windows Phone.  I know there’s a ton of really crappy software out there.  Oh my… it can be REALLY bad. So I was prepared, but not prepared enough, apparently.

I think I had my iPhone 5 jailbroken for just under ½ an hour before I decided to stop trying to force a piece of misbehaving software to behave. iPhones are just supposed to work. I’m not supposed to have to argue with the thing to get it to run the HTC styled, lock screen weather display I was interested in; and at the end of the day, I wasn’t going to stay jailbroken if the phone acted strangely…

For me, it was a clear and simple reminder – the iPhone is the way that it is, because Apple has specific quality standards for its products and the software they run.  An iPhone is just supposed to work. You’re not supposed to argue with it to come out of “safe mode.”  The software is supposed to do what it says its supposed to do.  Specifically, in my case, it was supposed to work.

It didn’t. It put the phone into safe mode and it wouldn’t come out of safe mode and the lock screen wouldn’t work. So instead of trying to muscle through it, I remembered why I got into the iPhone in the first place…so I wouldn’t have to deal with gimpy software that only worked when the stars aligned correctly…and I promptly put my iPhone back in the cradle and fired up the update for 6.1.3, and jumped back over the fence…

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